Perhaps you are tired of hearing another fruit fable about George Washington’s cherry tree, Newton’s apple or Peach Taro’s ghost-busting adventure. However, the next fruit related story we are about to tell you, you’re gonna love it! It’s about a Taiwanese orange moving onto the world, a heartfelt tale woven by dreams and fun!
Two Students’ Dream of Games
FullSoft, established in 1995 by Albert and his good friend, Lin, Huei-Yuan, was the studio-turned-company and the predecessor of Gamania. The ambition to promote Taiwanese games for the world to see was the biggest drive for their diligence in English, programming and graphic drawing. They gradually constructed a kingdom of games that belongs to Taiwanese people.
The company officially changed its name to Gamania on November 11th, 1999. Oranges are easy sharing fruit, just like games. The more you share, the merrier it gets. The change of title also marked the entry of online game era. Gamania helped boost the thriving economic success of internet cafes, upgrade of hardware and the craze of online game phenomena in Taiwan.
A Legend was Born Out of ‘Play’
The shape of an orange segment resembles a smile which is a perfect interpretation of the company’s spirit, ‘Love to Play’. The name Gamania is a combination of Taiwanese pronunciation of orange, ‘Gama’ and the word ‘mania’. Another interpretation is to regard the name as a combination of ‘Game’ and ‘mania’. So you see, our name is a cogent fit for the company’s objective: play!
‘Convenience Story’: a Game that Successfully Penetrated Female and Non-Professional Players Market
In 1999, the company was facing some financial crisis because the previous games had cost the company millions of NT dollars in debt. At this crucial time, an easily accessible leisure game, Convenience Store was launched. This ‘so easy, anyone could play’ concept of games successfully penetrated a niche market consisted of female and non-professional players. With the low-price strategy and previous marketing experiences, Convenience Store created the selling record of 1.3 million sets in less than a week after launch. This also made the game industry shift the focus on marketing. However, Albert was not complacent with such achievement, he further announced the company’s next move, “Our next step will begin with online games.”
‘Lineage’ Created a New Game Legend: the Entry of Online Game Era
To improve the quality of online games, Albert set to construct the biggest online game machine room in Asia in April, 2000 despite opposing feedbacks. In July the same year, the online game, Lineage was launched. Within 2 weeks, the members had soared to 200,000, which also heralded the warring states period of online games in the market.
Gamania: Made of Many ‘Firsts’
Soon after that, Gamania has continued to create many impressive legends in the game industry. The mobile phone payment mechanism launched in 2004 made Gamania the first game company to integrate virtual payment channels. In 2005, against negative prediction, Maple Story became the first online game free of monthly fee, which successfully penetrated the young players’ market and created greater revenue. In 2012, the time when market changes and the digital entertainment world evolves in a rapid speed, Gamania is fighting its way to stand out among the chaotic warring states and hopes to create the next legend!
Exploring Fun, See the World
From introducing its first game in 1993 to today’s Gamania group, Gamania has been through the thick and thin of market climate in Taiwan as well as the world. Gamania went from developing single game to diversified entertainment platforms: including music, animation, strategy, films, comics, shopping to e-sports. Our platform has stemmed from computers/lap tops to smart phones, iPads and TV. Over the decade, Gamania has grown with the vision to ‘explore the infinite possibility of fun’ and gradually matured and positioned itself as the leading brand in global digital entertainment. Our ‘fun’ craving gene still runs through our veins and we hope that Gamania will eventually become the leading brand that knows all the fun ways to play. We seek to expand our lives and broaden our horizons through play while showing our professionalism and confidence as a leader.